Lion of Oz is a 2000 animated film set before the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It tells the story of how the Cowardly Lion, formerly part of the Omaha Circus, came to be in Oz and how he stopped the Wicked Witch of the East from getting the Flower of Oz. It is based upon the 1995 book Lion of Oz and the Badge of Courage by Roger S. Baum (great-grandson of L. Frank Baum, the original author of the Oz books). Plot A lonely lion is shown in a circus, where everyone is afraid of him apart from his friend, the eccentric and virtuous balloonist Oscar Diggs. One evening, Oscar Diggs takes Lion up on his balloon and gives him a Badge of Courage. A thunderstorm drags them to the Land of Oz and Lion falls from the balloon. Lion comes across a living Oak Tree being harassed by flying monkeys. Lion frightens them off and the Tree thanks him. The Wicked Witch of the East appears, claiming that Oscar Diggs is her prisoner. She demands Lion find the Flower of Oz for her or he'll never see Diggs again. Tree explains to Lion that The Witch is bent on conquering Oz, but is prevented by the Flower. Lion saves the fairy Starburst from drowning. Starburst and her friends tell Lion to go to a certain castle to find the Flower. Lion meets a springy teddy bear named Silly Oz-bul, who follows Lion to the castle, where they are confronted by a toy soldier named Captain Fitzgerald. They are joined by a young girl named Wimzik and her toy ballerina Caroline. Finding out from Gloom about Lion's interference, the Witch teleports Fitzgerald to a dungeon. But while there, the captain learns from a flying monkey guard the Witch was lying about Diggs being her prisoner. The friends come to a waterfall with a silver bridge to a floating island. Silly attempts to cross the bridge, which turns out to be an illusion. Lion saves him, from falling over the cliff and they come to the town of the Mini-Munchkins, who built the original Silver Bridge before it was destroyed by the Wicked Witch of the East. The bridge the group saw was just an illusion caused by the Mini-Munchkins' sadness and doubt. Wimzik inspires them to believe in themselves and not to give up, somehow